The Search for WondLa

by Tony DiTerlizzi
Has a sequel: A Hero for WondLa

Rating: *****(5 stars)
Age group: 11+
Type: Dystopian science fiction

Eva Nine lives underground with a robot called Muthr and has never stepped foot on the actual ground in all of her 12 years of existence. In her safe house she has discovered a piece of paper saying "WondLa" and has a picture of a robot and a human on it. They are both smiling. Eva doesn't know why there are no other humans like her and decides to find out the meaning of "WondLa" and find others like her. But one day, somebody breaks into her underground home and she is forced to escape. She leaves Muthr behind but later she comes back and gets her. But on the outside, it is nothing like what she has been trained to think. She meets some aliens, Rovender Kitt and an alien who she calls Otto. They and Muthr help her. But she is still in danger, as the mysterious intruder who tried to break into her house is still on her trail. So now she must escape the intruder, find other humans, and find the hidden meaning of "WondLa."  This book is very gripping and very exciting and it is just really well-written. If you read it and like it, you should also read A Hero for WondLa, the sequel.
PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting:not really. But kind of
Pregnancy: no
Kissing/romance: no
Stealing: yes. I will not tell you what though because that might spoil the story.
Vandalizing: no.
**NOTE: There are some intense bits because the evil intruder break-inner has a gun-like object called a Boom-rod that blows people up. He DOES use it. And at one point, Eva is trapped (literally) in a very bad situation and that is both intense and disgusting. Hint: it is in a taxidermist's lab. So yes, there is a lot of intensity.

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Age group: 10+

Type: Science fiction

This book is about a girl called Meg Murry whose father has gone missing. One day she gets up in the middle of the night during a hurricane. She decides to go downstairs. Her little brother, Charles Wallace, is already waiting for her. Charles Wallace can pretty much tell what Meg is going to do next, most of the time. Their mother comes to join them and drink hot cocoa. Suddenly, a woman who Charles Wallace is friends with, Mrs. Whatsit, comes into their house and upsets their mother very much. So the next day, Meg and Charles Wallace and their dog Fortinbras go to Mrs. Whatsit's house, which is known as a haunted house. They meet a boy called Calvin O'Keefe hanging around the house. They take him inside with them but instead of Mrs. Whatsit, they meet her friend Mrs. Who. Mrs. Who tells them to go because it is not yet time. But then a bit later, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and their other friend, Mrs. Which, show up at their house and take them to planets and tell them who they actually really are. They begin a dangerous journey to save Meg's father, visiting many planets by tessering, which is basically making a wrinkle in the universe so they have a shorter distance to travel. They have to visit a weird planet where everybody does the same thing and where Meg's father is trapped. But at this planet, Charles Wallace goes into IT: a giant brain who rules this country. Now Charles Wallace is not Charles Wallace anymore, and Meg must save him from IT.

Wow this book was so awesome and touching and I think anybody would love it. You would like it if you like science fiction and excitement and really this book is great. It is very exciting and sad and happy and I just LOVE IT!!!!

***NOTE: If you are a very sentimental person have tissues on hand.

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: no!

Violence: not really. Except Charles Wallace does hit somebody evil.

Fighting: no

Pregnancy: no!

Kissing/romance: yes a little.

Stealing: no

Vandalizing: no

Operation Redwood

by S. Terrell French

Rating:*****(5 stars)

Age group: 9+

Type: Realistic fiction

This book is about a boy called Julian Carter-Li who lives in California. His uncle is part of a company called IPX and IPX recently bought a forest of old-growth redwood trees and are planning to cut every single one down. When Julian is sick he sees an email which has a very interesting subject line saying Sibley Carter (Julian's uncle) is a world-class jerk. Julian looks at

it and this is how he finds out his uncle is going to cut down redwoods. The sender is a girl named Robin Elder. He replies to her and soon they have a plan to try to save the redwoods, which involves Julian traveling to Robin's house as part of a student exchange program in order to escape a four-week math camp in Fresno, a super-hot place in California. Danny, Carter's best friend, is also part of this plan. But the plan does not go as planned... What will they do????

This books is extremely good and very exciting and it involves a lot of exciting characters and exciting scenarios. You would like it if you like environmental stuff or excitement.

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: none

Violence: none, except there is a pretty suspenseful part where they are very high up the ground

and Julian is in danger of a thug who is trying to grab him

Fighting: not really except for the above-mentioned thug

Pregnancy: none

Kissing/romance: none

Stealing: none

Vandalizing: none

***NOTE: There IS something about a "kidnapping" and also Julian and his best friend Danny have to hack into a computer.

Down in the Garden

by Anne Geddes-- well, photographed by Anne Geddes

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 1+
Type: Photography


This book is really great and it is REALLY CUTE and pretty much, the summary is that there are incredibly cute and funny photos of babies dressed up as things you might find in a garden, such as insects and flowers or sometimes fairies or garden gnomes. Sometimes they are just babies only in pots with funny head-dresses. This book was really fun and if you like it, Anne Geddes has other photo books too. Also I'm pretty sure she has things like notebooks too, but that's off topic. The point is that this book is really great and funny and CUTE!!

You would like this book if you like babies and photography and Anne Geddes. And cute.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: none, except some of the babies are naked, only their privates are covered.
Violence: none
Fighting: none
Pregnancy: none
Kissing and romance: not really. In one picture they stage a "wedding."
Stealing: none
Vandalizing: none

Things Not Seen

by Andrew Clements

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: fantasy

One day Bobby Phillips wakes up and looks in the mirror. But he's not there. He is invisible. His parents tell him not to tell anybody and they say he is sick with the flu and can't go to school. But then his parents get in a car crash. Bobby decides he is going to go out in public. He bundles up and goes to the library, but at the library he takes off all his clothes so nobody can see a bunch of floating clothes and walks around naked and invisible. Then he meets a blind girl called Alicia who can't see him and therefore doesn't know he's invisible. They become friends and eventually Bobby tells Alicia he's invisible. She's mad, but when she asks a passing policeman if she or Bobby is taller, he can't see Bobby.When his parents recover from the terrible crash, a commitee member comes and says that she can get a permit to search the Phillips household. Bobby needs to become visible again--fast. Then he discovers a piece of information that could help a lot. What will happen?

This book is really good but definitely not realistic. It is kind of complicated with all the invisibleness and keeping it a secret, but it is really good. It is a really unusual thing that makes Bobby invisible, and his Dad is a scientist so there might be some complicated things the dad talks about, like forcefields of electricity. Also, this book is more serious than other Andrew Clements books.

You might like this book if you like science-y or suspenseful books.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no!!
Violence: no
Fighting: no but people of course get mad
Pregnancy: no
Kissing and romance: a little bit mentioned at the end about kissing
Stealing: yes. Alicia and Bobby steal some information that they need.
Vandalizing: no
There is nakedness but that is only because only Bobby's body is invisible, so in order to sneak around unseen, he needs to take off his clothes so nobody sees him.

Cosmic

by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: Fiction

Liam Digby is only 12 but he already has a beard and is about 6 feet tall. He first discovers this when he is stopped at the students-only exit gate at an amusement park and the guard thinks he is an adult. He pretends his fellow classmate, Florida Kirby, is his daughter, and together they do all sorts of things. But then Liam's dad saves him just in time from doing something illegal, and Florida doesn't want to pretend anymore. But then Liam gets a text saying that he has been specially selected to go to a dad-and-kid preview of an amusement park--in China. He convinces Florida to come with him as his daughter, but then Liam gets into big trouble. One of the rides is a rocket--a real one. And Florida is going into space. Without him. What will Liam do?

This book is not supposed to be realistic. But it is SO GOOD!!!!! Frank Cottrell Boyce puts a lot of humor into the book and it really is very funny and good. Also try listening to the audiobook. It is narrated by Kirby Heybourne and he makes it very funny too. However the narrating is kind of confusing because it skips back and forth in time. But that is just about the only drawback. This is a great book.

You might like this book if you like humor.

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: no!
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Pregnancy: no. Well yes but only mentioned once and only in passing. Liam's teacher is pregnant so she can't go on a ride with him at the first amusement park.
Kissing and romance: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
Somebody does get drunk though.

No Passengers Beyond This Point

by Gennifer Choldenko

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: Fantasy (ish, more entirely and totally fiction)


India (a moody teenager), Finn (a twelve-year-old), and Mouse (6-year-old genius) Tompkins have lost their home. With a dead father and a mother who is a teacher, they have to move out. First, they have to leave their dog, Henry, at home. Then their mother announces to them that she is going to be living with them--but not at first. She gets to stay in their area, whereas India, Finn, and Mouse need to go live with their Uncle Red in Colorado. Colorado! So they fly there only to be picked up by a fake, 12-year-old "grown-up" who drives (!) a pink car with feathers stuck on it. He drives them to Falling Bird, a very mysteriously weird place where you get your own house, but only, apparently, for a little while. Then India gets enlisted as a welcomer for Falling Bird and Finn and Mouse are left on their own to rescue India and find the mysterious black box before time runs out.


This book is totally unrealistic but is not supposed to be realistic. I liked it pretty much but at the end it gets incredibly complicated. At least for me it does. But still it gets complicated at the end. And it alternates between India, Finn, and Mouse telling the story, though, so if you are not paying attention, you could get confused. All in all, this book is good.

You might like this book if you like suspensey-fiction-fantasy, or just fiction-fantasy.


PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: None
Violence: none, but a crazy fireball yes
Fighting: Not really but kind of, a little bit
Pregnancy: Non
Kissing and Romance: none
Stealing: not really except Finn and Mouse take a domesticated animal for their own good
Vandalizing: none